Sigrid Viir and Cloe Jancis 'In front of the mirror, on a day full of enthusiasm, you put your mask on too heavily, it bites your skin'

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The catalyst for the co-exhibition by Sigrid Viir and Cloe Jancis was the project „Isolation Dialogues“ initiated by the Museum of Photography in spring 2020, with the aim to document the perception of the era of isolation as well as the entirely new situation. The visual dialogue between Viir and Jancis was held while interpreting, mixing and developing each other’s ideas. The photographs, miniature sculptures and installative artwork by Cloe Jancis and Sigrid Viir are accompanied by written dialogues by Maris Karjatse and Anti Saar who have been prompted by the photo conversations by Jancis and Viir.

Sigrid Viir and Cloe Jancis admit that despite the spatial and social restrictions incurred by the novel situation a year ago, they had an opportunity to experiment with a new creative process through isolation dialogues. The situation offered freedom arising from unpredictability and friendly rivalry and their working process had an exciting scent of outmanoeuvring. The dialogue between Viir and Jancis brings out humour and absurd as one of the possible defence mechanisms and ways of escaping from mental and physical confinement while simultaneously referring to personal issues in everyday life. Through the form of their photographs as well as their installative objects, Viir and Jancis have extended the borders of a photographic frame and added one possible layer for interpreting the image seen on the photographs.

Cloe Jancis (b. 1992) is an artist who lives in Tallinn. She mainly works with photography, video and installation. Jancis is currently obtaining MA degree in contemporary arts in the faculty of fine arts, Estonian Academy of Arts. The artist is intrigued by the daily roles of a woman, the territories between these roles as well as the feelings accompanying the performance of a role such as anxiety, anticipation and desire. Jancis often refers to the interconnection between personal and public space as well as emphasizes the delicate border between existence and slipping from a role into another. Her recent exhibitions include “Meanwhile” in Hobusepea gallery (2020, with Maris Karjatse), “Waiting for Eternity” in Draakon gallery (2019) and “Between You and This” in Haapsalu City Gallery (2019). Her work was recently gifted by Outset Contemporary Art Fund to Fotomuseum Winterthur.

Sigrid Viir (b. 1979) is a photo and installation artist who lives and works in Tallinn. She has studied cultural theory in the Estonian Institute of Humanities and graduated the department of photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. As an artist, Viir is interested in the daily aspects of human existence and the related tangle of social agreements, the borderline between the totality of work and personal time of rest as well as the themes of visual language. Sigrid is one of the three members of art collective Visible Solutions LLC. She has actively taken part in exhibitions both in Estonia and abroad. Sigrid Viir has received the Young Artist Award (2009), in 2011 she was nominated for the Köler Prize, she has participated in Manifesta 9-1 (2012) with Visible Solutions LLC and has received the Annual Award of the Cultural Endowment of Estonia twice (2013, 2019). Her recent exhibitions include “False Vacationer” held at the Contemporary Art Museum Estonia (2019), “Wide Angle: Photography Out of Bounds”, FotoFocus Biennale, Cincinnati (2018), “Awful Pretty Pipe Neck” in Hobusepea gallery (2016) and “Import Export” in Temnikova & Kasela Gallery (2016, with Jimmy Limit). 

Title of the exhibition is taken from the short essay by Maris Karjatse.

Graphic design of the exhibition: Anna Kaarma

The artists express their gratitude to: Museum of Photography, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Villem Säre, Reimo Võsa-Tangsoo, Aadu Lambot, Punch Drinks